


Long Time Running

by goldenrazzmatazz



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Bookstore, Alternate Universe - Children, Childhood Friends, F/M, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, John Winchester is a jerk and everyone should know, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-07-01
Updated: 2014-07-09
Packaged: 2018-02-07 01:27:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,816
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1879806
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/goldenrazzmatazz/pseuds/goldenrazzmatazz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ever since the tragic house fire that took his mothers life, Dean Winchester never really had a place to call home. Not until he finds himself in A Slice Of Heaven, a used bookstore owned by the Milton family. There, he meets a blue eyed boy who quickly becomes the most important person in his life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

The car trips to his Uncle Bobby's house were always long and boring for Dean Winchester. Unlike his younger brother, Sam, Dean's father never had the foresight to get toys or books for Dean to play with on the ride, and Dean never asked him. Not that he was afraid of his father, he just, didn't want to bother him, that's all.

When Dean was eight years old, four years after his mother had been killed in an electrical fire that had also nearly killed his brother, he thought up his own game for car rides. It was simple, he'd look out the window of his fathers '67 Chevy Impala and watch the power lines, betting on which ones would stay the highest the longest. It wasn't a very fun game, and really it was based on perspective and where you were sitting in the car, but it stopped Dean from asking 'are we there yet?' every few minutes, so John never said anything.

If you got right down to the root, it was because of this game that Dean Winchester met Castiel Milton. Dean had been sitting on the porch in the front of his Uncles house, telling Bobby about the game. He was explaining how cool it looked when the wires danced in the sky, when Bobby finally asked why he didn't do anything else in the car, like read or draw.

"If I draw in the car, and we hit a bump, my crayon gets all messy and it screws up the picture." Sighed Dean.

"I see, why don't you read then? Your brother Sammy reads in the car." Replied Bobby.

"Sam reads boring books. Like The Hungry Caterpillar and Clifford. They're for babies." Huffed Dean as he stuck out his chest and pouted, arms crossed. Bobby shook his head, trying not to laugh. He loved the Winchester boys, and he loved watching them. He had never had had the chance to have children of his own, so whenever John claimed he needed time to “relax” (Bobby pretended he didn’t know that that meant become so hammered he couldn’t see), he offered to take the two boys for a while. Although, he had noticed over the years that over time, these relaxing times had become longer and more recurring. He loved the boys, but dammit, they needed their father!

"What if I took you to one of the bookstores in town?" Asked Bobby, crouching down so he was level with Dean, and peeked at his scrunched up face, "Maybe they even have a book or two about cars."

"Like, race cars?" Asked Dean, eyes widening in excitement as he uncrossed his arms and started jumping up and down.

‘Goddamnit,’ Bobby thought to himself, ‘if only his old man knew what he was missing.’

"I dunno, but lets go get your idgit of a brother and we'll see." Laughed Bobby, banishing the thought as he picked Dean up with one arm and walked back inside the house.

It didn't take long to convince Sam to come to the bookstore, in fact, Dean thought to himself, it wouldn't take long to get Sam to do anything that had to do with books or reading. In Dean's mind, Sam was a huge nerd, with a capital N. He felt bad for the poor kid in a way, Sam was always squirming to convince their father that he was ready to go to school, to 'kiddygarden' as Sam so affectionately called it. Dean knew though that Sam would either a) get to school and hate it, or b) get to school, love it, and then be forced to switch schools every few years as his father traveled.

It was option B that had been thrusted upon Dean in his first weeks of school. Unfortunately, after their mother's death, the family had moved so frequently that Dean barely had time to make friends anywhere, and had begun to detest school more than anything. He couldn't stand being the odd one out, the new kid, every few months.

So Dean had slowly become more withdrawn, not offering answers at school or raising his hand. He didn't want to make himself noticed, and honestly, his teachers were glad. Whenever his new teachers received his transcripts, they'd almost immediately sigh and rub their temples. There was only one thing worse than a new student-a new student who hadn't stayed long enough at any school in the past three years to be graded or assessed.

But, this didn't stop Dean from being intelligent and wanting to learn, so when Bobby offered to take them all to _A Slice Of Heaven_ , the only used bookstore in town, Dean was ecstatic. By the time the trio had arrived at the store, Dean was bouncing up and down in his place. Bobby laughed and Sam giggled quietly from Bobby’s side as a chorus of caniexplorecaniexplorecaniexplore came spilling out of Dean’s lips.

"Just a sec, y'idgit." Laughed Bobby, himself getting slightly giddy over the child's happiness, "I'm gonna introduce you two to some friends of mine first,

"Hey Anna, are you over there?" Bobby called as he walked the brothers to the back of the store.

"Hm?" A frazzled looking woman who couldn’t be older than thirty replied as she popped up from behind the counter, earning a giggle from Dean and a look of concern from Sam, "Oh Bobby! Sorry, I didn't see you there" Flipping her red hair out of her face she leaned forward, spotting the two children with Bobby, "Are these two who I think they are?"

"HiimDeanandthisisSamandyouhavebooksthatssocoolIloveyourhairitsverypretty!" Dean gushed in one breathe, face going red, earning a chuckle from both adults.

"Well, hello there, Dean and Sam! Your Uncle there has told me so much about you." Smiled Anna, "I actually have some nephews of my own you might want to meet, if you can hold off looking at books for just a few minutes. Want to come meet them?" Dean's eyes opened wide as he nodded, books and new friends? He was liking this place more and more by the second.

"I really like your store, Ma'am." Spoke Sam at last, blushing slightly as he looked at his shoes.

"Aw, thank you very much, Sam! I love your t-shirt, that's a very cute picture of a moose, is it your favorite animal?" Inquired Anna, as she leaned forward and bopped Sam on the end of his nose, resulting in a giggle.

"Yeah." Sam looked up, smiling, "Did you know moose have 27 chromosomes? Humans only have 23."

"Is that true?" Sam nodded, allowing a grin to spread across his features

"Well, I'll keep that in mind, come with me you two."

nna led the brothers to the back room, letting Bobby stay in the front to check out the new selection of paranormal books.

The back room, unlike the rest of the store which had shelves overflowing with books, was quite organized and pretty. The walls of the room were covered in photographs of a multiple people. Dean recognized Anna's red hair in multiple. In others there stood an older man with darker skin and a younger man with dark black hair that reminded Dean of his father.In other photos stood a larger man, with large brown eyes and no hair, causing a small giggle to erupt from Dean. Other pictures had other young children, in particular two young boys, one with short black hair and piercing blue eyes, the other with longer sandy blond hair and hazel eyes.

Dean didn't pay much attention to those photo's though, because the two boys he saw in the photos were sitting on a big peach coloured sofa on the far wall. Dean's eyes fell straight to the smaller, and if his assumptions were correct, younger of the two boys. He had raven black hair that was tangled and sitting in a mop on the boys head. The boy looked up from the book he was reading to examine the newcomers, showing large, blue, intelligent eyes from behind a pair of thick black glasses. The boy wore a white button up shirt with a blue tie that wasn't knotted properly. Still, Dean immediately felt self conscious of his ripped jeans and ill fitting, stained t-shirt. He blushed and looked at the other boy, who, judging from the way he was staring at the lollipop in front of him, hadn't noticed the two boys arrival.

"Hello." Spoke the black haired one, blinking behind his spectacles, causing the second boy to look over at the Winchesters.

"Hey," Replied Dean not really knowing what to say next.

"Dean, Sam, these are my nephews, Castiel and Gabriel. Castiel and Gabe, these are the friend's of Mr Singer I told you about." Anna, finally said, breaking the awkward silence pointing to each of the boys as she introduced them.

"I didn't know Singer had any kids, I thought his wife died?" Gabriel asked bluntly, causing Anna to blush.

"Well, Gabe," Anna started but got cut off by, to Dean’s surprise, Sam.

"He's a friend of our Dad's. We visit him sometimes when our Dad needs to calm down." Answered Sam, not taking his eyes off Gabriel, who Dean had already labeled 'douche' in his head.

"Do you frequently visit town then? I've never seen you two around town before." Asked Castiel, his voice slightly deeper and more intelligent sounding than what Dean thought an eight year old should sound like.

"I, um, don't know what free queen tea means." Dean blushed, looking at the black haired boy, who gave him a small smile,

"It means a lot. Sorry, I didn't mean to use big words, I do that quite often, I’m afraid."

"So, you do it, frequently?" Laughed Dean, scrunching his nose as he spoke the foreign word, drawing a small smile from Castiel and glare from Gabriel.

"You two are such nerds. Hey, Sammyboy, want me to show you my stash of candy, I'll give you one." Sam nodded immediately at the thought of free candy, "come on then, kiddo." The two left the room, leaving Castiel and Dean to stand in the room with Anna, who after a moment or two murmured something about bookworms and left. Dean watched her leave before he looked up at the boy with the blue eyes, who was smiling softly at Dean, causing Dean to look at the floor and blush.

"So, I assume you like cars?" Asked Castiel, forcing Dean's ears to go pink.

"Um, yeah. How did you know?"

"Relax, Dean. It's not like I'm stalking you," Dean didn't know what stalking meant, but he nodded anyway, feeling it was really important that he impressed the other boy, "You have images of cars on your shoes."

Dean looked down at is shoes again, "Oh yeah, I do. They're my favorite. My Dad fixes cars."

"Oh really? That's quite impressive." Castiel turned around and sat on the couch, motioning Dean to follow him, who happily obliged, "He must be quite intelligent to understand the functions of all the parts inside a car."

"Oh yeah, he's really smart! I want to be just like him when I grow up!" Smiled Dean as he looked up at the boy, who smiled in return.

"My father works in the government, Aunt Anna refuses to tell Gabriel and I what he does exactly, but I don't think I would want to work at the government anyways." Castiel looked at Dean, shrugging, "He never comes and sees us, so I guess it can't be a good job if he doesn't let him visit us, even if it does pay well."

"If your Dad doesn't come visit you, he's a dick." Spewed Dean immediately, turning beet red in seconds, "I-I mean."

"You're not allowed to say that." Castiel interrupted, looking surprised at Dean's vulgarity.

"What, are you gonna tell on me?" Dean asked, sneering as he laughed at the notion, Sam hadn't told on Dean saying bad years in, ever actually.

"Well, you can't just say bad words like that, Dean." Replied Castiel, looking concerned as he played with his hands, brow wrinkling,

"No way." Dean stood up, eyes wide, "Come on, don't be a tattle tale."

"I'm not a tattle tale!" Castiel shouted, getting the attention of Anna in the other room, who started walking into the back room,

"You are so! Tattle tale, tattle tale!" Chanted Dean, causing Castiel to jump up in anger, and shout,

"It's better to be a tattle tale, than a, then a, a pottymouth!" Shouted Castiel, voice cracking, as he shouted in Dean’s face.

"I was trying to make you feel better! What's wrong with you! I bet you don't even have friends, because you're a jerk and a nerd!" Dean shouted, breathing heavily before being knocked backwards onto the couch by Castiel,

“You imbecile! I’m not a nerd!” Castiel screeched, punching Dean in the face before jumping off the couch, panting, eyes wide and shining. “Oh my goodness, I, I’m so sorry.”

“What in the Lords name is going on here?” Cried Anna as she ran into the room to a frightening sight.

Dean lay on the couch, shaking as blood slowly oozed from his nose, close to tears. Above him stood Castiel, shaking, looking like he was about to begin sobbing.

“Are you both okay? Dean, what happened?” Gasped Anna as she ran to Dean’s aide.

“Anna, I, I didn’t mean to I-” Castiel began, tears spilling over,

“I tripped and fell, Cas is just upset he couldn’t catch me.” Stammered Dean through his hands as he attempted to keep the blood from spilling onto the couch.

Anna’s eyes flickered between the two boys, knowing something was up, but simply sighed as she walked over to examine Dean and called for Gabriel to bring paper towels.

 

“Why did you choose not to tell Aunt Anna that I attacked you?” Castiel turned to Dean, who held his nose shut with a wad of paper towel. Anna had finally left to go inform Bobby what had happened, and Gabriel had taken Sam back upstairs after he had begun crying over Dean’s injuries.

“Well for one, I ain’t no tattle tale,” Dean looked up at Castiel with a slight smile, who instantly flushed scarlet, “I shouldn’t have called you a nerd. I mean you can’t be a nerd, you punch like a real fighter.”

Castiel looked back at Dean and chewed his lip slowly in contemplation.Dean smiled as he reached over and grabbed Castiel’s hand. Fingers intertwining for a moment he received a surprised look from the blue eyed boy before shaking his hand impatiently.

“Come on, lets go look at those books on race cars.”

 


	2. Chapter 2

It’s the day after Dean’s eleventh birthday when Dean confides in Cas about his family situation. Dean and Cas got together to play almost every time Sam and Dean visited their uncle Bobby and after a while, it became common practice that Bobby would simply inform the Milton children whenever he found out Sam and Dean were coming.

Although Sam and Dean didn’t live with Bobby, they spent enough time at his house over the years that they had both earned their own rooms in his house. Sam’s was on the ground floor, a side area off of the living room and Dean had been given the attic, which although was dusty and dirty at first, had been cleaned up and painted into what could be considered a teenagers ideal bedroom. 

Dean and Cas were both sitting on Dean’s bed as Cas fiddled with a rubix cube and Dean flipped through an old  Auto Express  magazine when Dean rolled over and asked the question that had been going through his mind all week.

“Your Dad isn’t around much, that’s why you and Gabe live with your Aunt, right?” 

“Mmhm” Cas nodded in reply, not taking his eye off the coloured box as he turned each of the segment in different directions methodically.

“Does he at least come by on your guys’ birthdays?” Dean asked, staring at Castiel’s eyes, which frowned behind his glasses.

“My father doesn’t seem to enjoy celebrating mundane events such as birthdays, he only visits when it’s convenient for him.” Castiel replied, never losing contact with the cube and never hesitating in his movements.

“Oh,” Dean turned back to the magazine, upset by response  and pretended to examine the contents once more. 

“Are you upset that your father left again?” Castiel put the unsolved toy on the bed and turned to Dean, “if you are, don’t be. You know it’s not your fault.”

Dean scoffed at the idea, “My fault? Like I could stop him from getting shitfaced at some bar every other weekend.”

Castiel tilted his head, confused at the comment.

“Get drunk. That’s what he does. He drops us off here and then goes and drinks until he passes out.” Dean replied, shrugging, “I’m surprised his liver hasn’t given out yet.”

“I’m sure you’re father isn’t out drinking, why would he want to make himself fall into unconsciousness?” Questioned Castiel , a weak attempt at comforting the older boy.

Dean shrugged helplessly before sighing, “it’s just how he works.”

Dean turned back over and went back to his magazine. Castiel looked over his shoulder, but Dean wouldn’t allow him to see any of the page. Sighing audibly, Castiel sat back down and picked up the rubix cube, continuing to toy with it.

It was about three minutes later that Castiel heard sniffling. He glanced over at Dean, who had abandoned the magazine in favor of pillow, which his face was currently pressed into.

“Dean?” Castiel whispered before gingerly placing a hand on Dean’s shoulder.

“Just leave me alone for a sec, will ya?” Dean jerked away and curled in on himself.

“Dean, it’s okay to be upset, it’s completely-”

“It’s not okay! I’m not a baby, I don’t even care about him!” Dean cried out, hoping his friend didn’t hear his voice crack.

“It’s okay to worry about him, Dean. He’s your father.” Castiel said, rubbing Dean’s shoulder awkwardly as Dean’s lip quivered ever so slightly.

“Why? He doesn’t give a damn about Sammy and I, if he did he wouldn’t, he wouldn’t.” Dean lost it. His voice dissolved into moans, and his chest heaved as he shook. Castiel sat, watching his best friend, who had always put up such a strong front, allow the walls to crumble away for just a moment.

“Dean, it’ll be okay.” Cas stuttered, reaching for a box of tissues on the bedside table as Dean wept from beside him.

He didn’t get Dean to stop crying for a long time.

 

Two blocks down the street, Sam bounces on the teeter totter with a toothy little blonde girl while Gabriel sits at a nearby picnic table eating a snickers.

Bobby is paying Gabriel to watch Sam at the park while he gets groceries, but Gabriel couldn’t care less about the little Winchester brat at the moment.

“Besides, he’s with that Moore girl,” Gabriel thinks to himself as he opens another chocolate, “he’s probably through the roof right now.”

It isn’t a secret to anyone over the age of ten that Sam Winchester has developed a crush on one of his playmates, Jessica Moore. He talks about her constantly and whenever Gabriel is forced to babysit him (which is occurring more and more frequently, much to Gabriels irritation) he asks to go and play at the park with her. Sometimes, he shows up empty handed, without even a toy, but other times he comes bearing gifts to the girl, like flowers or a balloon.

While Bobby and Jessica’s mother find it adorable, Gabriel finds Sam’s crush annoying. He’s just a kid, how can he have a girlfriend? He won’t kiss her, all they do is play on the equipment together. Which is loud and noisy.

Gabriel tries to ignore current Sam’s squeals of delight as he shoots up and down on the equipment, and instead tries to think about his newest girlfriend, Kali.

When Castiel had asked him the night before what love was, Gabriel had gone off about seeing the person for who they really were, and not caring about their faults. When Castiel had asked him if he loved Kali, Gabriel smirked and made an obscene comment about the size of her chest. It wasn’t exactly the response that Castiel was looking for, but he nods anyway. It’s only for a moment that Gabriel wonders why his brother would care what love is, before his thoughts drift back to busty girls and chocolate goodies.

 

It takes Castiel almost an hour to calm Dean down enough for him to form coherent sentences again. Castiel feels awful when the first one to leave Dean’s lips is,

“I’m sorry I’m such a wuss, Cas.”

He feels like hugging and slapping Dean at the same time. 

‘The idiot!’ Cas thinks to himself as Dean apologizes for what could very well be the first time he has ever cried in front of another person since his mom died.

“It’s fine, Dean. Really.” Cas replies, shaking his head.

Dean nods, not really listening, and slowly brings the magazine back in front of his face. Castiel waits a few minutes for bringing up what had been tugging on his mind all day.

“You know, I never gave you your present.” 

“Present?” Dean looks up from the magazine, frowning.

“Well, yeah. I can’t just leave my best friend without a book, I mean gift.” Castiel laughs nervously, because really, he doesn’t know if Dean will like his gift.

“Can I open it?” Dean asked, receiving a quick nod from the younger boy, as he pulled out the small wrapped rectangle.

Dean opened it carefully, already knowing it was a book of some sort, but unsure of what variety or genre.

“Supernatural, by Carver Edlund.” Dean read out loud, looking up at his friend with an eyebrow raised.

“They’re really popular at the store, I had to give Anna my whole allowance to get it,” Castiel blushed, “I hope you like it, Dean.” 

Dean cautiously opened the book, skimming the inside pages. Written on the very first page, in Castiel’s neat handwriting,

“It’s your birthday, Dean! I wish you well on this day, which is hopefully filled with joy and pleasure, as it should be. You’re my best friend (even if you are an assbutt sometimes), and you deserve only the best. With Care, Cas.”

Dean looked up on Cas, a grin spreading across his features.

“I hope you like it, I mean if you don’t I can-” Castiel began, blushing before being interrupted by Dean,

“No, I love it. Want me to read it outloud?” Dean offered, and smiled at Castiel’s eager nod, “Alright. Let’s see,

‘Our story begins twenty-two years ago, in the small town of Lawrence, Kansas...”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, chapter Two is finally up! I'm pretty excited about writing this story, and I really like this chapter. I'd like to thank the wonderful deducecrime for editing this chapter, and also for creating a really cool spnedit inspired by this fic, which you can find here, http://deducecrime.tumblr.com/post/91292613874/dean-cas-bookstore-au-based-on-a-long-time  
> Thank you for reading, and leave your thoughts in the comments below!

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first full length fic, and I'm going to be updating it as I go along, which will hopefully be about once a week or so. I'll also be editing and adding more tags as I go along, so please check to make sure nothing will trigger you. I'd also really like to bring attention to my friend Kassandra, (deducecrime for those of you on tumblr) for helping me edit and revise the story. So, thank you for reading, and please comment your thoughts below!


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